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THE THING (2011)Movie Reviews
Horror science-fiction thriller about a group of scientists in Antarctica who unearth an alien parasite that pits human against human as it tries to survive and flourish. Cast:Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Joel Edgerton, Ulrich Thomsen, Eric Christian OlsenDirector:Matthijs Van Heijningen Jr.Release Date:October 14, 2011DVD Release:January 31, 2012From:UniversalRating:RLength:1 hr. 42 min.
The Thing (2011) played to fair reviews. • Roger Moore wrote in the Orlando Sentinel, "A decent cast and a pristine glacial setting are wasted on a movie of alien transmutations and alien dissections that lacks urgency..." • And MaryAnn Johanson called the film for Flick Filosopher, "...a useless, entertainment-free xerox copy of John Carpenter's 1982 film of the same name..." More Reviews Below...
The Thing (2011) Positive Reviews (45 Reviews, reviews below)
David Germain, Associated Press: MODERATE(cg) "...a repetitive assault of gross creature effects and action done far better in John Carpenter's 1982 version, the first two 'Alien' films and a lot of other flicks..."(See all of David Germain's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 736 words, 10/13/11
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...the best moments come when the camera lingers on the fantastic, unreadable faces of the Norwegian actors who play real Norwegians destined to... I won't give it away..."(See all of Lisa Schwarzbaum's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 460 words, 10/14/11
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: MODERATE(cg) "Did we need a prequel to John Carpenter's 1982 version of 'The Thing'? Probably not... One gut-busting death after another, terror giving way to tedium. Your call."(See all of Peter Travers's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 103 words, 10/14/11
Scott Bowles, USA Today: MODERATE(cg) "...pure prequel, and a disarrayed one.... ends up being a lot like its protagonist: a mess of a monster that stretches itself too thin to scare much."(See all of Scott Bowles's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 468 words, 10/14/11
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...has a lot of gory Gotcha! moments, and many scenes in which an endless supply of Things are incinerated by flame throwers. It seems like such an ignominious end..."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 804 words, 10/14/11
Kat Murphy, MSN Movies: MODERATE(cg) "...supremely short on originality... relies on a CG-improved monster to up the terror ante. The malformed result is a subpar slasher movie..."(See all of Kat Murphy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 810 words, 10/12/11
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (14 Reviews)
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: POOR "...stiff... Where the earlier film pulsed with precisely calibrated paranoia and distinctly drawn characters, this inarticulate replay unfolds as mechanistically as a video game."(See all of Jeannette Catsoulis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 305 words, 10/14/11
Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "If Hollywood is going to remake horror films, it can do worse than an update of the update of 'The Thing'... a frigid tale of extra-terrestrial terror..."(See all of Joe Neumaier's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 346 words, 10/14/11
Michael Phillips, Los Angeles Times/Chicago Tribune: VERY GOOD "...it engaged me more than Carpenter's. That's not to say it can hold a candle to the superb 1951 'The Thing From Another World'... an entertaining, well-acted oozefest."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 544 words, 10/14/11
Kyle Smith, New York Post: MODERATE(cg) "...basically a sno-cone 'Alien' or 'Predator' and we've seen nearly a dozen of those.... ends with bodies everywhere but not much excitement about what comes next."(See all of Kyle Smith's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 582 words, 10/14/11
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...has a lot of gory Gotcha! moments, and many scenes in which an endless supply of Things are incinerated by flame throwers. It seems like such an ignominious end..."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 804 words, 10/14/11
Brian Miller, Village Voice/LA Weekly: MODERATE "...reasonably respectful and tough-minded... lacks much wit or self-awareness. It's more of a 'final girl' formula film, but on ice."(See all of Brian Miller's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 258 words, 10/19/11
Bruce DeMara, Toronto Star: WEAK(cg) "The script is just plain weak, with moments of embarrassingly bad dialogue.... 'The last thing you want is to be cooped up with a bunch of Nordic guys. Trust me'..."(See all of Bruce DeMara's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 483 words, 10/14/11
Liam Lacey, Toronto Globe & Mail: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...made with care, but there is only one memorable character, and a script by Eric Heisserer that seems allergic to originality."(See all of Liam Lacey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 543 words, 10/14/11
Josep Parera, La Opinion: EXCELLENT(cg) "...dirigida por el holandés Matthijs van Heijningen Jr., en lo que se podría definir un impecable debut en el campo del largometraje."(See all of Josep Parera's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 458 words, 10/14/11
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT(cg) "...works so well.... The mirrored actions and snatches of dialogue from the '82 'Thing' are deployed with just enough wit to avoid being dismissed as replication."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 934 words, 10/20/11
KEY CITIES (13 Reviews)
Sean O'Connell, Washington Post: WEAK(cg) "...isn't as satisfying as the old 'The Thing.' And it's nowhere near as enthralling as the vintage 'Thing,' which inspired every other 'Thing' to follow."(See all of Sean O'Connell's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 562 words, 10/14/11
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: WEAK(cg) "A decent cast and a pristine glacial setting are wasted on a movie of alien transmutations and alien dissections that lacks urgency..."(See all of Roger Moore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 454 words, 10/14/11
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: MODERATE(cg) "...means to be true to Carpenter's 1982 hair-raiser, and the pieces fit together smoothly. That fidelity comes at a high cost. There's no room for originality here..."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 296 words, 10/14/11
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: MODERATE(cg) "...has a few gross-out moments, [but] it lacks any sense of warmth. Which might be an odd criticism of a horror movie set in Antarctica... it lacks suspense..."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 523 words, 10/14/11
Tom Russo, Boston Globe: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...the basic story is identical to Carpenter's 1982 film, and when there are fraught, climactic opportunities for the movie to make a gutsy departure, it passes..."(See all of Tom Russo's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 448 words, 10/14/11
Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...feels like a copy. And a slightly cheap one at that.... why settle for a copy when the original is even better?"(See all of Stephen Whitty's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 529 words, 10/14/11
Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: MODERATE(cg) "...copies the DNA of John Carpenter's then-derided, now-classic horror film from 1982. It's an imperfect facsimile, guilty of borrowing too many ideas from the earlier film..."(See all of Peter Hartlaub's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 407 words, 10/14/11
Soren Andersen, Seattle Times: MODERATE(cg) "...a series of 'Boo!' moments that add up to less and less as director Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. piles on more and more of them."(See all of Soren Andersen's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 439 words, 10/14/11
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "The geographical isolation still produces shivers... a solid sci-fi/horror hybrid, but this iceman doesn't deliver enough to chew on."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 330 words, 10/14/11
Steve Persall, St. Petersburg Times: POOR(cg) "...moves at a glacial pace, which is appropriate since this unnecessary horror yarn is set in Antarctica... purely for the gorehounds, and they aren't likely to leave impressed."(See all of Steve Persall's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 366 words, 10/13/11
Tom Long, Detroit News: VERY GOOD(cg) "...it kind of rocks.... does offer solid cheap thrills for the slick gore crowd, proving once again: Horror doesn't have to be horrible."(See all of Tom Long's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 516 words, 10/14/11
Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: WEAK(cg) "If you've never seen 'The Thing' -- and you really should -- stick with the genuine 1982 article and skip this elaborate act of mimicry."(See all of Rene Rodriguez's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 603 words, 10/14/11
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (10 Reviews)
Brian Miller, Village Voice/LA Weekly: MODERATE "...reasonably respectful and tough-minded... lacks much wit or self-awareness. It's more of a 'final girl' formula film, but on ice."(See all of Brian Miller's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 258 words, 10/19/11
Leanne Cari, Cinema Blend: WEAK(cg) "...it's frustrating to see talent, money and time poured into a project that's just a pale, pointless imitation of something that's already perfectly great on its own."(See all of Leanne Cari's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 591 words, 10/13/11
Tasha Robinson, AV Club: FAIR(cg) "...feels fairly inconsequential, just another case of a crowd of interchangeable nobodies repetitively getting picked off by a digital monster."(See all of Tasha Robinson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 522 words, 10/13/11
Stephanie Zacharek, Movieline: FAIR(cg) "There are some body-horror gross-outs if you're into that sort of thing, but mostly what you get are a bunch of too-obvious leftovers from the 'Alien' stockroom..."(See all of Stephanie Zacharek's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 778 words, 10/13/11
Jesse Cataldo, Slant: MODERATE(cg) "...establishes potentially anxious scenarios and then explodes them, compulsively returning to gruesome money shots of the alien at work... eventually exhausting."(See all of Jesse Cataldo's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 553 words, 10/13/11
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: EXCELLENT(cg) "...works so well.... The mirrored actions and snatches of dialogue from the '82 'Thing' are deployed with just enough wit to avoid being dismissed as replication."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 934 words, 10/20/11
Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...the first half builds suspense surprisingly well even though it ultimately lapses into action sci-fi clichés.... It slurps and slithers, but it doesn't suck."(See all of Curt Holman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 531 words, 10/14/11
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: POOR "...stiff... Where the earlier film pulsed with precisely calibrated paranoia and distinctly drawn characters, this inarticulate replay unfolds as mechanistically as a video game."(See all of Jeannette Catsoulis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 305 words, 10/14/11
Ian Buckwalter, NPR: POOR "Like The Thing itself, the film seeks to ape the form and behavior of something genuine, but you don't need a fancy test to tell that this is a shoddy replica."(See all of Ian Buckwalter's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 602 words, 10/13/11
Michael Phillips, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "...it engaged me more than Carpenter's. That's not to say it can hold a candle to the superb 1951 'The Thing From Another World'... an entertaining, well-acted oozefest."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 544 words, 10/14/11
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: VERY GOOD "...a lovingly constructed tribute... made by people who understand what the horror audience wants and don't treat it like a bunch of brain-dead children."(See all of Andrew O'Hehir's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 933 words, 10/12/11
MOVIE INDUSTRY (5 Reviews)
Rob Nelson, Daily Variety: WEAK "...at least has a strong lead thesp in Mary Elizabeth Winstead... memorable mainly for illustrating CGI's gross deficiencies relative to old-fashioned makeup f/x."(See all of Rob Nelson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 550 words, 10/12/11
Todd McCarthy, Hollywood Reporter: WEAK "...the payoff seems rote and completely out of step with everything that's come before. Feeling of deflation at the end is virtually total."(See all of Todd McCarthy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 934 words, 10/12/11
Michael Phillips, Los Angeles Times: VERY GOOD "...it engaged me more than Carpenter's. That's not to say it can hold a candle to the superb 1951 'The Thing From Another World'... an entertaining, well-acted oozefest."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 544 words, 10/14/11
Emanuel Levy, Cinema 24/7: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...has some merits... The main problem is not so much in the characterization as in the narrative, which suffers from lack of coherence and continuity."(See all of Emanuel Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 1,060 words, 10/13/11
Jeannette Catsoulis, New York Times: POOR "...stiff... Where the earlier film pulsed with precisely calibrated paranoia and distinctly drawn characters, this inarticulate replay unfolds as mechanistically as a video game."(See all of Jeannette Catsoulis's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 305 words, 10/14/11
18.8 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
The Thing (2011)'s reviews are separated by an average 18.8 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
The Thing (2011) (45 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:The Thing (2011)'s reviews cover 59.6% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 23,777 words involume (average is 20,172 words). Length:The film's reviews average 528 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 1.1 Hours After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
The Thing (2011)'s reviews on average broke 1.1 hours after opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is The Thing (2011)'s opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
The Thing (2011) (45 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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